The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 67

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 868

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REENE, JUDGE ALBERT GORTON, son of John H. and Elizabeth (Beverly) Greene, was born in Prov- idence, February 10, 1802. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Warwick, Rhode Island, Samuel Gorton, from whom he derived his middle name, being one of the most noted characters in early Rhode Island history. He prepared for college at the University Grammar School, and in his fifteenth year en-

John Rausell Bartlett

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tered the sophomore class of Brown University, from which institution he graduated in 1820. His law studies were pursued in the office of Hon. John Whipple, and he was admitted to the bar of Rhode Island in 1823. His profes- sional duties were faithfully discharged, and he was gain- ing distinction as a lawyer, when, on the organization of the new city government in 1832, he was elected clerk of . the City Council and clerk of the Municipal Court. The onerous nature of the duties which he had undertaken to perform compelled him to abandon the profession of law. For nearly twenty-five years he held the office of clerk of the Common Council, and for twenty-five years that of clerk of the Municipal Court. Of this court he was elected Judge in 1858, and was in office until 1867, when the state of his health obliged him to resign. During all these years of service he was cultivating and gratifying in many ways his literary tastes, and interesting himself in the intellectual welfare of his native State. The original school bill of Rhode Island was the product of his mind and pen. He was a constant student of English literature, while with American and German literature he was very familiar. He had one of the most valuable and extensive libraries in Providence, the number of volumes being not far from twenty thousand. In the founding of both the Providence Atheneum and the Rhode Island Historical Society, he took an active interest. Of the latter he was President fourteen years. Among the products of his busy pen were a history of the " Jersey Prison Ship," the edito- rial matter of the periodical known as the Providence Lit- erary Journal, of which he had charge one or two years, a number of poetical effusions, among the best known of which is the popular ballad " Old Grimes is Dead," and a poem delivered before the Philermenian Society of Brown University. On resigning his position as Judge of the Municipal Court, in 1867, he left Providence, to take up his residence with his daughter, the wife of Rev. Dr. Samuel White Duncan, D.D., then pastor of one of the Baptist Churches in Cleveland, Ohio. The wife of Judge Greene, whom he married in 1824, was Mary Ann, daughter of Benjamin Clifford, of Providence, who died in January, 1865. Three of the four daughters survived the death of their father, which occurred at Cleveland, January 3, 1868.

"ECK, ALLEN ORMSBEE, the son of Benjamin and Roby (Ormsbee) Peck, was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, November 17, 1804. He prepared for college in the University Grammar School in Providence, and graduated from Brown University, in the class of 1824. Judge George Arnold Brayton, LL.D., Professor G. W. Keely, LL.D., and Judge Ezra Wilkinson, of Massachusetts, were among his classmates. After graduating from the University Mr. Peck studied law with Judge Thomas Burgess, and was admitted to the bar of Rhode Island. He did not long devote himself to the

practice of his profession. The American Insurance Com- pany, which was established about the time he was ad- mitted to the bar, elected him as Secretary. Having served in this capacity for some time, he was chosen Pres- ident of the Company. Under his administration the Com- pany widely extended its business, and he acquired a well- deserved reputation for the skill and success with which he managed its affairs. He remained in office as Secre- tary and President of the American Insurance Company over thirty-six years. The business of insurance proved to be so profitable that another Company, the Narragansett, was established in 1862, and he was invited to take the Presidency of it. He held this office during the remainder of his life. Mr. Peck was an influential member of the Unitarian Church, and took a deep interest in all matters affecting its prosperity in New England. In July, 1855, he married Mary E., daughter of Josiah Whitaker, of Prov- idence, by whom he had five daughters, four of whom are now living. He died in Providence, September 15, 1871.

ASON, EARL POTTER, son of Pardon and Anne ( Hale) Mason, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 10, 1804. His father, a man of sterling worth, died May 18, 1845, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He was descended from Sampson Mason, a dragoon in Oliver Cromwell's army, the famous " Ironsides." He came to this country in 1649 ; settled first in Dorchester, Massachusetts, afterwards re- moved to Seekonk, and thence to Rehoboth. Earl P. Mason attended the common schools of his native town until the age of fourteen, when, as a clerk, he entered the drug store of Dr. John H. Mason, on Broad Street. Con- tinuing his studies during his spare time, he acquired a substantial business education, and prepared to enter Brown University. He however abandoned the idea of a collegiate education, and decided to continue in his chosen vocation. About 1827 he became a partner of Dr. Mason, and the business was conducted under the firm-name of John H. Mason & Co. until 1835, when Dr. Mason's failing health compelled him to retire front the firm. Earl P. Mason continued the business alone until 1837, when he was obliged to suspend and make a settle- ment with his creditors. But he soon recovered from his financial embarrassment and was enabled to pay all de- mands in full. In 1838 Dr. Mason again became his part- ner for about two years, until the business was re-estab- lished, after which Mr. Mason continued alone until 1849, when he purchased one-half of the block on Canal Street (built by S. & W. Foster), to which he removed, and asso- ciated with him B. M. Jackson, a former clerk, the busi- ness being continued as Earl P. Mason & Co. In 1856 Mr. Jackson retired, and George W. Snow and George L. Claflin, also former clerks, became Mr. Mason's partners,

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under the same firm-name. In 1859 his employés, Levi L. Webster and Jolin L. Draper, were received as partners, and in 1865 the interest of Mr. Webster was purchased by Frank Butts, the bookkeeper. The firm controlled an immense trade in drugs, dye-stuffs, and chemicals. April 1, 1866, a new firm was organized, consisting of the other members of the old firm above mentioned, Mr. Mason be- ing special partner, the style being Snow, Claflin & Co., which continued till April 1, 1872, when the partnership expired by limitation. Frank Butts and Earl Philip Ma- son, son of Earl P. Mason, continued the business as Butts & Mason, Earl P. Mason continuing as special part- ner. In February, 1874, Frank Butts withdrew from the firm, and a new copartnership was formed, consisting of Earl Philip Mason and William P. Chapin, Charles S. Bush, and Samuel L. Peck, who for some time had been em- ployed as clerks, and the business has since been con- ducted under the name of Mason, Chapin & Co. Mr. Mason was intimately identified with various railroad, steamship, and commercial interests. He was one of the founders, in 1831, of the old Arcade Bank, which in 1865 became the Rhode Island National Bank, and served forty- five years as a director of the same, and as President of the Bank from December 21, 1854, until his death. He was an incorporator of the Providence and Worcester Rail- road Company, a director of the same from May 20, 1844, and served as President from February 4, 1861, to Febru- ary 3, 1873; a trustee of the Providence, Hartford, and Fishkill Railroad, from December 2, 1875; a director of the Providence, Warren, and Bristol Railroad, from Janu- ary, 1863, to January, 1873; and an incorporator of the American Steamboat Company, of which he was President from April, 1873. He was one of the original subscribers to the capital stock of the Providence and New York Steamship Company, of which he served continuously as a director from July 8, 1868, until June 8, 1871 ; was re- elected November 10, 1873, and served until his death ; and was part owner of many sailing vessels engaged in the coasting trade. Mr. Mason was an incorporator of the Burnside Rifle Company, in May, 1860, of which he was elected President and Treasurer, July 14, 1864, and served until the incorporation of the Rhode Island Loco- motive Works, October 19, 1865, continuing to serve in the same capacity until June 6, 1866, when he resigned the office of President but retained that of Treasurer until June 30, 1876. He was a large owner in the Wauregan Cotton Mills, at Wauregan, Connecticut, and a director from February 8, 1854; also an owner in the Ponemah Cotton Mills, at Taftsville, Connecticut, and a director from December, 1870; and an owner and a director in the Slater Cotton Company, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, He owned one-half of the mill property at Waterford, Massa- chusetts; was a stockholder in the Blackstone Woollen Company ; the Kent Woollen Company, at Centreville, Rhode Island, of which he was Treasurer from March 3,

1873, to September 15, 1876; the Crompton Company, and President of the same from January 22, 1851 ; the Ameri- can Wood-Paper Company, and President of the same from January, 1868; the entire owner of the Saxon Woollen Mills, at Putnam, Connecticut. He was a stockholder in the Smithfield Cotton Mill, now the Smithfield Manufac- turing Company, at Allendale, Rhode Island ; the Sanders Print Works, at Sandersville, Massachusetts; the Wood- land Woollen Mill, at Burrillville, Rhode Island; the American File Company, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island ; the Reversible Boot-heel Company, at Providence; and other corporations. For several years he was a special partner in the commission cotton business with Anthony & Hall, and in the commission woollen business with Whitte- more, Peet, Post & Co., both of New York city. He was a director in several insurance companies ; also an incor- porator of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company, in 1867, of which he was a director from October 24, 1867 ; one of the founders of the Rhode Island Hospital, to which he gave large sums of money for its support. He was a trustee of Brown University, in 1866-76, to which he also gave at one time twenty thousand dollars, and founded the Earl P. Mason scholarship. He was a stock- holder in the Narragansett Hotel Company, and in the Providence Opera House Association, and was influential in promoting both enterprises. He was the largest stock- holder in the First Light Infantry Building Association, of which he was a director from December 17, 1875. In politics he was formerly a Whig, and a Republican from the organization of that party until his death, but never took an active part in political affairs, held any office, or allowed the use of his name as a candidate. He was a regular attendant at the Westminster Congregational (Uni- tarian) Church for many years, but later in life worshipped at the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church, on Benefit Street. He gave liberally to the church with which he was connected, and was noted for his generous contribu- tions to the various benevolent associations. On the 3d of May, 1836, he married Ann L. Larcher, daughter of John and Lucy (Hartshorn) Larcher, of Providence. She died November 13, 1873, in the fifty-sixth year of her age, They had six children, Frank C., Stella V., Charles F., Anne J., Earl Philip, and Arthur Livingston, of whom all but the two eldest are now living. Mr. Mason died Sep- tember 21, 1876, in the seventy-third year of his age, and his remains were interred at Swan Point Cemetery. In a resolution passed by the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island National Bank, at the time of his death, his business character is thus briefly summed up : " In business undertak- ings he displayed a happy combination of boldness with- out rashness, sagacity without cunning, conservatism with- out timidity." In a notice of his death, the Providence Daily Journal says : "To name the business enterprises with which Mr. Mason was connected would be to enume- rate half the great concerns that have contributed to the

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growth and prosperity of Providence and Rhode Island. In the various manufactures of cotton, of wool, and iron, in the routes of transportation, opened and maintained, by land and by water, Mr. Mason was conspicuous by his in- vestments, his counsel, and his management. Few men in the present or in the past history of Providence have been so conspicuous in connection with its material interests. Nor was he unmindful of its moral and intellectual needs. He was a liberal supporter of the institutions of religion, of education, and charity."

&VANS, DUTY, merchant, son of Daniel and Rhoda (Phetteplace) Evans, was born in Glocester, Rhode Island, May 12, 1797. He is a lineal descendant of Richard Evans, of England, whose son Richard, the progenitor of the family in this country, was born in Chiswick, County Middlesex, England, in 1614, emigrated to America in 1635, settled in Dorchester, Mas- sachusetts, where he was made a freeman in 1643, and died 1661. The line of descent is as follows: Richard Evans, of England, Richard second, Richard third, David, Edward, Daniel, father of the subject of this sketch. Richard second was the first white settler in Killingly, Connecticut. Daniel Evans and his ancestors were farm- ers. Duty Evans remained at home, working on his father's farm and attending the district school until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to the village of Che- pachet, Rhode Island, where he was employed as clerk in the store of his brother for seven years. In 1820 he opened a variety store in that village, which he carried on until 1842, being also engaged in the iron and hardware business from 1824. He then sold his store, bought a farm in the town of Glocester, and engaged in agricultural pursuits for two years. In 1844 he removed to Providence, where he has been extensively and successfully engaged in the iron and hardware trade until the present time, his present place of business being on Dyer Street. He was for several years a director of the State Bank, and President of the same in 1853. Since 1854 he has been director and President of the Liberty Bank. In 1815 he was a lieutenant in the Morgan Rifle Company of Glocester and Burrillville. During the Anti-slavery struggle he was an active member of the Abolition Society, and a member of the Free Soil party, which he represented as a delegate in the National Convention at Buffalo, New York, in 1848. He has been identified with the Republican party since its organization. For many years he has been a member of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society of Provi- dence, of which he is an active supporter. He married, February 18, 1820, Ruth Owen, daughter of Thomas and Abigail (Brown) Owen, of Glocester. They have had eight children, Abby Owen, Caroline Brunswick, Gilbert Fayette, Sabin Owen, deceased, William Edward, Mary

G., Annie, and Frances, deceased. Abbey married Dr. George M. Angell, of Illinois. Caroline married Stephen Foster, of Stanstead, Canada. Gilbert F. is engaged in business with his father. William E. married Hannah Hart, and is engaged in farming in Kansas. Mary G. married George A. Seagrave, a manufacturer in Providence. Annie married Daniel A. Hunt, agent of the Providence Tool Company. Frances married Henry B. Newhall, of New York, and died December 27, 1878.

RINLEY, FRANCIS, lawyer, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November 10, 1800. He was the eldest son of Francis Brinley, merchant, Boston, and Elizabeth Henshaw Harris, a sister of the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harris, for many years a promi- nent minister of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Mr. Brinley is a lineal descendant of Thomas Brinley, Esq., of England, Auditor-General of the Revenues of King Charles First and Second. Thomas Brinley was a great sufferer for his loy- alty to his prince, and for obeying his commands had all his cstate that could be found seized, and an order issued from Parliament to apprehend his person. He was in exile with his majesty for nearly four years, and when King Charles the Second returned to England in 1660 was again possessed of his office one year prior to his death, which occurred in 1661, being then seventy years of age. Francis Brinley, onc of the sons of the " Auditor," was intimately connected with the colonial history of Newport, Rhode Island. He was born in England in 1632. " In conse- quence of the losses sustaincd by his father for faithful adherence to the royal family," said the Hon. William Hunter in an address before the Redwood Library Associa- tion, " he accepted a grant either of lands or office in the Island of Barbadoes. The climate was not suited to his tastes and constitution, and he came early to Rhode Island with money in his pocket. He was much respected in his day. Business led him frequently to England. He was, as it were, the organ of intelligence between the Colony and the mother country. Upon his return on one occasion from England he came unexpectedly into the quarterly town meeting, whereupon (says the Record) all the people rose." He was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas by Andros. His original commission and a catalogue of his law and other books are now in possession of the subject of this sketch. His wife was Hannah Carr, of Newport. He died in Boston, and was buried in King's Chapel Burial-Ground. His son, Thomas Brinley, was born in Newport, and became a prominent merchant in Boston. He was a founder of King's Chapel. In 1684 he went to England and there married Catherine Page. He died in London, in 1693, leaving a widow and two chil- dren, Elizabeth and Francis. On invitation of their grand-

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father, Francis Brinley, the children and their mother came to this country in 1710. The daughter married Judge William Hutchinson. Her brother Francis, who was born in London, in 1690, was educated at Eton College. He did not remain in Newport but settled at Roxbury, Massa- chusetts, where he erected a house after the model of the family mansion at Datchet, near Windsor, England, where he resided until his death. Ile married Deborah Lyde, of Boston, April 13, 1718. She was a daughter of Edward and Catherine Lyde, and granddaughter of Hon. Nathaniel Byfield, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, and known as one of the "founders of Bristol, Rhode Island." Thus

Mr. Brinley is a direct descendant of Judge Byfield. He is also collaterally connected with Matthew Cradock, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Company. One of the

sons of Francis Brinley, of Roxbury, was Edward Brinley,

of Boston, grandfather of the present Francis Brinley.

Another son, Francis Brinley, removed to Newport. He

married a daughter of Godfrey Malborn. They were buried in Trinity churchyard. Francis Brinley now (1881) living in Newport, was educated at private schools in Boston, and was prepared for college by the then venerable Ebenezer

Pemberton. He entered Harvard College at the age of

office of the Hon. William Sullivan, of Boston, as a student fourteen, graduated in 1818, and immediately entered the

at law. In 1821 he was admitted to the bar, and taking an

office in Court Street entered upon his professional career.

of Representatives of the State. He took a very active part Boston in 1832, and also served as a member of the House He was elected a member of the Common Council of

in the presidential campaign of 1840, and the following

year, when General Harrison became President of the

United States and Daniel Webster Secretary of State, he

was invited by the latter to take the position of Law Clerk

(a position created for him), in the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury, and removed to Washington. Not long

position of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury if Congress Treasury, he asked Mr. Brinley if he would accept the after, when the Hon. Walter Forward was Secretary of the

would create the office. Mr. Brinley having consented Mr.

Forward presented the matter to President Tyler, who

agreed to the plan, but as the President expressed a desire

that the position should be filled by one of his political friends, Mr. Forward did not ask Congress to create the

office. Mr. Brinley wrote hundreds of legal opinions and

was never overruled. One of these caused Congress to change the yearly termination of the fiscal year from the

last of December to the last of June. On the accession of

Mr. Polk to the Presidency Mr. Brinley was removed from

office. In 1849 he was again returned to the Common

at that time, Mr. Brinley was appointed to make the annual in 1850, there being no superintendent of the public schools the mayor was not present. While occupying that position and ex-officio Chairman of the School Committee whenever Council of Boston, and was its President in 1850 and 1851,

examinations, after the performance of which duty he made an elaborate report, which was highly commended for its style and practical character. In 1852 he was elected to the State Senate, and was one of the most popular and efficient members of that body ; and in 1853 was a member of the convention to revise the constitution of Massachu- setts; in March, 1854, he was transferred to the House.

In both branches of the Legislature he served as Chairman of various important committees, and his reports were noted for the full and critical examination of the questions to which they pertained. He was appointed by Governor Clifford chairman of a special commission to ascertain the best methods of preserving Cape Cod Harbor. He spent several weeks in a thorough examination of the locality, and presented a report to the Governor containing a full

and accurate history of the legislation of Massachusetts in regard to that part of the State, and was the means of pro- curing an appropriation from Congress for the protection of this harbor. While in the House he made a report as Chairman of the Committee on Probate and Chancery in regard to probate officers, which is still referred to as a document of high authority. In 1857 Mr. Brinley re- moved to Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, where a branch

of his family had resided for generations, and for a time

retired from professional life. He took deep interest in

the educational welfare of the town; was chosen Chair- man of the School Committee; and while serving in that capacity, succeeded in obtaining a new and large edifice

of all the district schools. In 1863, he was elected to the for the Grammar School, and in elevating the character

State Senate from the Senatorial District consisting of

eighteen towns. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Brinley served for awhile in a military capacity, and in

terms of his usefulness in promoting the educational and to his removal, the Lowell Citizen and News spoke in high remove to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1867. In referring of the older members of his family induced him finally to various ways manifested his spirit of loyalty. The death

ishment of imprisonment for debt, and the establishment ley was an earnest advocate, by voice and pen, of the abol- remove. During his residence in Massachusetts, Mr. Brin- other interests of the town from which he was about to

" Independent Company of Cadets," of Boston. He was military duty, he became Adjutant, and then Major, of the years, and long after the time when he was exempt from zealous in behalf of a well-regulated militia. For several of a discreet system of insolvency. He was also equally

thrice elected commander of " The Ancient and Honorable

Artillery Company." He was a worker in behalf of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and as one

of its officers contributed to its present elevation among

the prominent literary institutions of Boston, whose citizens

are in some degree indehted to him for his aid and encour- agement in behalf of the City Library in its early inception. He was an advocate of internal improvements, and was

svenon

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among the first to encourage the building of railroads in Massachusetts. Mr. Brinley has resided in the city of Newport since 1867. In 1870, he was chosen to the Gen- eral Assembly of Rhode Island, and re-elected in 1871. During the first term he was Chairman of the Joint Special Committee to examine into the fisheries of Narragansett Bay. The thorough and impartial report which he pre- pared was sought for both at home and in England, France, and Germany. Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Insti- tute, pronounced it a most valuable document. Mr. Brin- ley was an early contributor to Hunt's Merchants' Maga- zine, and to the American furist. His legal articles were elaborate, and those on " Dower" were cited by Chancellor Kent in his Commentaries. He has also been a frequent contributor to the newspaper press, and has lectured with much success. In 1830, he delivered an address before the Franklin Debating Society, of Boston, which was pub- lished. He is the author of a life of his brother-in-law, William T. Porter, the founder of the New York Spirit of the Times. Having resumed the practice of law on his removal to Newport, he still continues in his profession, and keeps up his interest in legal and other studies. The Albany Law Journal of December 29, 1877, contains an article by him intended as an " Introduction to a treatise on the Law of Damages," which he proposed to write, and which has been described by an authority of the highest character as a paper of "great ability and erudition." During his residence in Newport he has delivered various public addresses, and has been prominent in promoting the interests of the Rhode Island Historical Society, of which he is a Vice-President. He is also Vice-President of the Newport Historical Society ; and for several years has been President of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. He was married, in St. John's Church, New York, June II, 1833, by the Rev. Dr. Berrian, to Sarah Olcott Porter, daughter of Benjamin and Martha (Olcott) Porter, of New- bury, Vermont. Mr. Porter was a prominent member of the legal profession ; his wife was the daughter of Lieu- tenant-Governor Olcott, of Norwich, Vermont. They were friends of Daniel Webster from the time he commenced the study of law in the office of the Hon. Thomas W. Thompson, of Salisbury, New Hampshire, an uncle of Mrs. Brinley. Mr. Webster loved to revert to those days, and often said that Mr. Porter was the " most attractive social companion he had ever known." Although having been frequently called upon to fill public positions, his stu- dious habits and retiring disposition have caused Mr. Brin- ley to seek the quiet walks of professional life rather than become engrossed with the cares and excitements of poli- tics. ,He has done much, however, to advance the political interests of his friends, some of whom are greatly indebted to him for their elevation to office. He has been an inti- mate friend and adviser of many public men, and has ex- erted a wide influence in political, literary, and social circles.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 67

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 868